Mar 18, 2015

As announced a few hours ago, Microsoft has confirmed a partnership it set up with Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi.

According to the Redmond-based company, Windows 10 will be available to owners of the Xiaomi Mi 4 smartphone. Thus, users will be able to enjoy the perks of the new operating system without actually purchasing a brand new Windows phone. Earlier today, Microsoft said that a group of Xiaomi M 4 power users would receive invitations to help test Windows 10 and offer their feedback for its future release later this year.

The select elite will be able to install Windows 10 Technical Preview on their devices and contribute with their ideas and bug reporting to the full development of the OS. But luckily, it seems that things are not going to be so constricted after all. On the official MIUI forums, Xiaomi has just announced that the company will be releasing the ROM pack in question on the forum soon enough. So you'd better keep your eyes open and on the lookout. While we wait for Windows 10 to arrive on the Mi 4, you’re invited to try installing Android 5.1.0 by Ivan if you want to have a taste of stock Android (for the time being).

Windows 10 running on Xioami Mi 4

Microsoft announcing partnership with XiaomiImages credits to Official MIUI Forum

Windows 10 is expected to see the light of day during the upcoming summer, and just like Microsoft said during the January 21 event at its headquarters in Redmond, the new operating system will be offered as a free upgrade within the first year after launch to those who run Windows 7 or 8.1 on their PCs.

But as suggested in a slide presented by Terry Myerson, head of the OS unit at Microsoft, at WinHEC in China, the upgrade path to Windows 10 will be supported not only through the built-in Windows Update (as is the case right now for the Windows Insider program) but also with stand-alone ISOs that allow users to perform a clean install of the OS. According to this slide, Windows 7 RTM and SP1, Windows 8, 8.1 RTM, and 8.1 S14 will support upgrade ISOs, while Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 S14 (which is actually a fully updated version of 8.1) will also work with Windows Update.

Surprisingly, Windows RT doesn't seem to support any of the two, which is pretty weird, given the fact that Microsoft has already confirmed that some Windows 10 features will also be offered to devices running the tablet-oriented operating system. Windows Phone users will have to update to 8.1 to get Windows 10, and the new operating system will obviously be deployed through the standard update feature.

A few months ago, Xiaomi launched the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro flagship smartphones, and the latter was actually quite interesting.

The Mi Note Pro is the second handset to be announced with Qualcomm’s controversial Snapdragon 810 platform and taking advantage of a consistent 4GB of RAM internally. While we are yet to see the Mi Note Pro arrive on the market, it appears that the Chinese up-and-coming device maker is prepping another powerful phone with similar specifications from the Note lineup.

Xiaomi might be looking to extend its Mi Note lineup

Gizmo China reports that the unannounced Xiaomi Mi Note Plus has popped up in benchmarks, revealing the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor that is used to power the Mi Note Pro. On top of that, the handset is also paired with 4GB of RAM. The phone has been spotted running Android 5.0.2 Lollipop out of the box. Judging by the name, the Mi Note Plus could be the top-end model in the company’s Note lineup. After the launch of the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro, a device with the same name popped up in the AnTuTu benchmarks, revealing specs identical to those of the Mi Note Pro. So at the time, it was speculated the name was mistakenly spelled.

The Mi Note Plus also popped up in GeekBench and scored somehow similar to the HTC One M9, which runs on the same platform. In the single-core test, the mystery device scored 1235 points, while in the multi-core test it managed to snatch 4039 points. By comparison, the HTC One M9 managed to grab 1282 points in single-core and 3929 in the multi-core tests.

The Mi Note Plus' launch date remains a mystery

For the time being, there’s no indication of when Xiaomi might be looking to make the mystery Mi Note Plus official. Just a few hours ago, the phone maker introduced a special variant of its Mi Note smartphone, called the Mi Note Natural Bamboo Edition, which, as you might have guessed, comes with a bamboo rear cover. But the company didn’t say anything at all about the Mi Note Plus. The device maker might talk about it after the Mi Note Pro makes it out into retail. In all possibility, we might be dealing with a version of the Mi Note Pro that comes with a larger display (6-inch maybe).